At a glance

First Term Wins 

Delivering a National Student Ombudsman to improve student safety on campus

Every student deserves to feel safe, supported, and respected on campus. But for too long, too many students have felt ignored or let down by their universities when it comes to bullying, harassment, and violence.

Alongside other crossbench colleagues, I successfully negotiated the creation of a National Student Ombudsman. I led this push in response to student concerns and survivor advocacy, working to ensure that universities can no longer mark their own homework when it comes to student welfare.

The National Student Ombudsman will:

• Provide an independent pathway for student complaints
• Oversee university responses to misconduct
• Hold institutions accountable for how they protect students
  

This is a major step forward in restoring trust, transparency, and safety across the higher education sector.

I’ll keep fighting to ensure every student is treated with dignity, and has somewhere to turn when things go wrong.

Reforming indexation of student debt

Rising HECS-HELP debts have been piling pressure on students and graduates, especially when indexation outpaces wage growth.

Alongside crossbench colleagues, I pushed the Government to fix it. And we had a big win.

We secured a reform that caps HECS indexation to the lower of CPI (inflation) or WPI (wage growth). That means student debt will no longer grow faster than people’s ability to pay it back and the government also agreed to backdate the change to 1 June 2023.

This is a real cost of living win for students and young people and a long-overdue step toward a fairer, more affordable education system. 

But there’s more to do, we also need government to fix the timing of indexation so students aren’t paying interest on money already repaid and reform the failed Job Ready Graduates Scheme. While Labor’s promise to cut  20% of all student debt is welcome, it doesn’t address the root cause.

I’ll keep fighting to make sure our higher education system lifts people up, instead of holding them back with runaway student debt.

Paid placements for nurses, midwives and social workers

Together with the crossbench, I pushed for our teachers and future health and social workers to be paid for the thousands of hours they spend during their degrees undertaking placements.

We cannot expect our future health workers to pay the bills, while they are forbidden from working while undertaking placements. It has been burning out the next generation of the professionals that we sorely need. In response to our advocacy, the Government announced it would establish a Paid Placement scheme for nurses, midwives, teachers and social workers. This is a great first step, but it now needs to be expanded to include medical students and allied health workers and increase the rate of payment.

Protecting ACT universities from potentially harmful student caps

When the Government introduced legislation to improve quality and integrity in international education, I supported the intent, but pushed back hard on one critical flaw: a blunt cap on international student numbers.

The proposed caps would have severely hurt universities in the ACT, undermining our economy and damaging a sector that supports thousands of jobs and students. I participated in the senate committee inquiry and championed key amendments to the bill that protected what was good (like stronger quality and integrity measures) while removing the poorly designed cap mechanism. I also opposed scapegoating international students for decades of failed housing policy from both major parties, especially here in the ACT where our universities have invested heavily in student accommodation.

Ultimately the bill was shelved but the Coalition is pushing an even deeper cut that again threatens the sector.

The ACT has a world-class university sector that:

• Drives economic growth
• Strengthens international ties
• Funds vital research and education programs

I will continue to push for better protection of education standards without punishing high-performing institutions or shrinking one of Australia’s biggest exports. We need to get the balance right. You can read more here. 

Research and Development Review

Australia’s investment in research and development (R&D) is falling behind. As a percentage of GDP, our R&D spending is well below the OECD average, and it’s been declining for over the past decade.

This underinvestment puts us at risk of missing out on the breakthroughs, startups, and sovereign capabilities that will define the next century. 

Following the Universities Accord recommendations, I pushed for a review of R&D in Australia. Following this advocacy, and the work of others, the 2024 Budget, contained funding for a Strategic Examination of Research and Development. I will continue to advocate for greater investment in R&D to address the challenges we face.

What I’m Fighting For 

Reforming the failed Job Ready Graduates scheme

A year-long review into Australia’s Higher Education sector, called the Universities Accord, concluded that the Coalition’s Job Ready Graduates scheme was a failure and it's still hurting students today.

The policy doubled the cost of some university degrees, saddling students with a lifetime of debt based on the false idea that pricing would shape course choices. But the evidence is clear: cost doesn’t change what students choose to study; it just makes it harder for them to finish.

Students studying humanities, arts, and social sciences (which are all vital to Australia’s future) have been unfairly punished by this approach. This scheme has increased debt, reduced equity, and done nothing to improve workforce planning.

I will continue to push the Government to:

• Reverse the worst impacts of Job Ready Graduates
• Restore fairness to course funding and student contribution levels
• Build a higher education system that supports students, not burdens them
  

It’s time to fix this broken policy and build a university system that works for all Australians.

Fairer changes to student debt indexation 

Once you reach a certain income threshold, compulsory student debt repayments kick in. Right now, indexation is applied to those HECS-HELP debts before compulsory repayments are applied. That means graduates are being charged indexation on money they’ve already paid back. This is an unfair system that would never be accepted from a commercial bank.

This timing is costing graduates dearly each year and adding unnecessary pressure during a cost-of-living crisis. I’m calling for urgent reform to fix this broken system and make student debt fairer.

If re-elected, I’ll keep fighting to:

• End indexation on amounts of HECS-HELP debt already repaid
• Fix repayment rules to make them fairer and more transparent

Let’s build a higher education system that works for students, not against them.

Expanding paid placements & increasing the rate

Placement poverty is a phenomenon impacting too many students in critical fields of study. It was called out as an area for urgent reform in the final report of the year-long review into higher education called the Universities Accord.

It recommended: “That to reduce the financial hardship and placement poverty caused by mandatory unpaid placements, the Australian Government work with tertiary education providers, state and territory governments, industry, business and unions to introduce financial support for unpaid work placements. This should include funding by governments for the nursing, care and teaching professions, and funding by employers generally (public and private) for other fields.”

The introduction of  paid placements for nursing, midwifery, social work, and teaching students was a long-overdue step in the right direction. But it didn’t go far enough. The rate of paid placements is too low and the field of professions too narrow.

Thousands of students in critical fields, including medicine, psychology, physiotherapy, veterinary science, occupational therapy, and other allied health professions are still being forced to complete hundreds of unpaid placement hours, often while living in poverty.

These are students training for jobs we urgently need, yet the system punishes them financially for choosing to serve their communities. I will continue to push for the expansion of paid placement support to include all essential disciplines and to increase the payment to a liveable rate, so no student has to choose between finishing their qualification and keeping a roof over their head.

This is about fairness, workforce planning, and ensuring Australia can train and retain the professionals our healthcare and community systems rely on. You can watch a speech I gave calling for an expansion of paid prac here.

Schools Funding + Early Childhood Education

I have called on the Federal Government to lift its contribution of schools funding to 25% of the Schooling Resourcing Standard (SRS). I strongly believe that public schools should be properly resourced and given the funding they need to fully support their students. But it doesn’t stop there. Even though the ACT is the only jurisdiction to be funded to 100% of its SRS we need bigger reform and bolder investment. Teachers are burning out and leaving the workforce. Parents struggle to get appropriate supports in place, especially when their children need extra assistance. And we need more investment in upgrading ageing facilities. This is part of the reason why I’ve been pushing so hard for a better return from the sale of our resources so we can invest more in things like education. You can read more about my advocacy on this here and here. 

Early Childhood Education is also facing challenges as recent reporting by the ABC exposed (warning: distressing content). The Government was quick to respond with a series of measures aimed at improving safety and regulation of the sector but this needs to go further. Too often when regulation overlaps between the Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments we see regulatory failures and these need to be better addressed. 

Labor has made investments to make childcare more affordable and ensure early childhood educators are better paid and removing the activity test was something I pushed for alongside advocates in this sector, but there is more to do. Many families report higher government subsidies are eaten up by increased fees and design flaws have led to some early childhood educators not being able to access the wage increases. I have raised these issues and the safety issues with the government. Ultimately, our community appears to support moving to a fully publicly funded and delivered model of early childhood education that does not rely on for-profit providers and I want to keep pushing this discussion.

Investing in Research and Development to back Australia’s future

Australia’s investment in research and development (R&D) is falling behind. As a percentage of GDP, our R&D spending is well below the OECD average, and it’s been declining for over the past decade.

This underinvestment puts us at risk of missing out on the breakthroughs, startups, and sovereign capabilities that will define the next century. I strongly support the Strategic Examination of Research and Development, and I’m calling for:

• Increased direct funding for R&D through universities and research institutes
• Policy reforms that link research to startup success
• Stronger support to keep Australia on the cutting edge of global innovation
  

Backing Australian research means backing our future industries, jobs, and prosperity. We can’t afford to fall further behind.

I’ll keep fighting for long-term investment in research and innovation. To meet the huge challenges we face, we need to invest now.